The external saftey, slide release and the takedown lever look sloppy together with the overall design is not esthetically pleasing. China clearly goal is to sell firearms abroad and so one would think that China would take some time to compete with the market leaders. As I wrote before - pistols and rifles are not very sophisticated. It´s about simplicity ,esthetics, ergonomics, feel and overall quality. One would think China would be able to produce something like that for an affordable price.
PLA Small arms
- Thread starter Vanguard1688
- Start date
So it is personal preference in the end. At that point, let people buy the FN HiPer if they like it more, it's not a big deal. As for making them to your specifications, you are right, China can do it but it simply doesn't for who knows what reasons. Low priority or want by the government is probably most likely.
It is an interesting point that you bring up for sure.
A few points to consider
- Sig Sauer is reshored and is now an American company
- Glock, Sig, Beretta have all grown large from oversized US Government and Police contracts. There are hundreds of thousands of police officers in the USA, this is more than many world militaries.
- Chinese rifles are quite common. Even the CQ which is just a clone of the AR-15 has a number of export orders. Type 81, Type 56 can be commonly found. Even Type 03, not common within China has been sighted with irregular forces in Myanmar.
- Pistols are usually Officers' weapons, commanding a certain level of prestige. This is where the fit and finish/polish can make a big difference. (Work boots vs. Dress shoes)
- The civilian handgun market in the USA is also many times larger than any other country. It is completely closed to Chinese companies due to import bans.
Money matters and taking market shares from American and European companies is something China should do.
As you are aware. PLA is taking rapid step to become a modern high-tech Armed Forces comparable to the U.S. Armed Forces. I understand that pistols are not a priority. I did only point out that China produce outdated pistols for no apparent reason and of course - that there is a market pistols outside of the U.S.
Sig Sauer is still owned by German company Lüke & Ortmeier Holding Gruppe but there is a subsidiary in the United States. I was aware of your points. There is a market outside of the United States in which China can compete with lower prices and pistols on par with Glock, Sig Sauer, CZ, Walther, HK and so on. Money matters. Besides - Chinese modernization of it´s Armed Forces also including replacing small arms with more modern types.
What markets are you talking about? As far as I am aware, the US market is basically the sole market when it comes to firearms sales. The European market is tiny and incredibly restrictive and now Canada is limiting gun ownership. They are basically irrelevant and always follow the trend of the US gun market. Finally, even if you get past all of that, you would have to deal with increasingly hostile European nations who can screw your business over instantly. All of the additional factory tooling and assembly lines that expanded to meet the demand would have to be shut down, and that severely outweighs the hypothetical and meager profit your business would earn.
It does not have to be the civilian market but police and military in non-Western countries. Africa, Latin-America and Asia. I kind of realize that is somewhat above what I know about firearms and the that particular market. Maybe I should stick to topics I know something about.
Of course this is something China wants to do, but the question is how big is the market outside the US exactly?
To me (and keeping in ), I don't think that it is a simple matter of priority, but rather market dynamics. There is not enough demand they can realistically market to. A good indicator would be what they show at export oriented military shows like IDEX UAE. There are displays of modular rifles with full length top rail, but not many pistols.
Modern semi-auto pistols are still not common outside of Western police forces. For example, police in Korea, Japan, and HK are still using .38 revolvers.
Police in a lot of African and Latin American countries are actually armed with SMGs or even full carbines due to threat level.
Slightly off-topic but if there is anything that seems to be in high demand for Chinese small arms it would have to be the QCQ 171 (CL/LS7). Heard a couple hundred or thousand was exported to Poland for ~$1,000 a pop and was sold out immediately with the police and military buying the majority. Those civs who managed to get one were pretty happy with it. I know Venezuela also got some imports in the last couple of years that were also immediately sold out. And lastly, a couple of months ago, I heard it's also currently under review for the Canadian market under the name of T07.
If there were a small arm that China should put more effort in then it would probably be SMGs or Carbines. Seems to be in hot demand for a while now. I am still sticking to my dream of an AR variant based on the QCQ 171, cmon China, just do it.
Last edited:
PDW's are mainly CQC weapons that have a limited place on the battlefield. Due to their calibers, they have neither the reach nor the muzzle velocity to hit and kill their target. They are great for police forces, but even police forces who face frequently extremely high risk situations (such as the US) are leaning more towards rifles chambered in intermediate calibers.